Returning borrowers: Complete the Accept/Decline Financial Aid process via CAESAR identifying the amount you wish to borrow. If you completed the entrance counseling and MPN in the previous aid year, you do not need to resubmit these documents. If 12 months have elapsed since you last received Stafford loan funds in your program at NU, you will need to complete a new MPN.

Returning borrowers: Complete the Accept/Decline Financial Aid process via CAESAR identifying the amount you wish to borrow. If you completed the entrance counseling and MPN in the previous aid year and did not require an endorser, you do not need to resubmit these documents. If 12 months have elapsed since you last received Graduate PLUS loan funds for your program at NU or if you required an endorser on your previous year's Graduate PLUS loan, you will need to complete a new MPN.

First time borrowers: Complete the Accept/Decline Financial Aid process via CAESAR identifying the amount you wish to borrow. 10-14 days after completing the accept/decline process, you will receive an email to your NU email account directing you to complete the required application, entrance counseling and Perkins loan Master Promissory Note (MPN)

Returning borrowers: Complete the Accept/Decline Financial Aid process via CAESAR identifying the amount you wish to borrow. If you completed the required Perkins loan documents in the previous aid year, you do not need to resubmit them.

Credit Information

The Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loan program is not credit based. No credit check is required.

Credit approval is based on federally mandated criteria, not a credit score. In order to qualify, you must not have any of the following items on your credit report:

Any current delinquency of 90 days or more

Any of the following within the preceding 5 years of the date of the credit check:

Default

Bankruptcy

Discharge

Foreclosure

Repossession

Tax Lien

Wage garnishment

Write-off of a Title IV debt

Open collection

Recent changes in the law that governs the terms and conditions of Grad PLUS loans establish a specific circumstance for certain Grad PLUS loan applicants who would otherwise be considered to have an adverse credit history. Specifically, a Grad PLUS loan applicant may qualify for a Grad PLUS loan based on extenuating circumstances if the applicant:

Has been or is delinquent for 180 days or less on mortgage loan payments or on medical bill payments for the applicant or the applicant's family AND does not otherwise have an adverse credit history as determined in accordance with the federal regulations that apply to Grad PLUS loan applicants.

Borrowers with an adverse credit history may apply for the loan with a cosigner (called an endorser) who does not have an adverse credit history.

The Federal Perkins loan is not credit based. No credit check is required.